Wednesday, May 10, 2017

If
Russ Meyerand George A. Romero had a baby, gave that baby up for adoption, and
that baby was raised by Ed Wood, he would grow up to be Herschell Gordon Lewis,
the 70’s grindhouse auteur and king of the exploitation titles that tell you
exactly what to expect, including Blood Feast (1963), Two Thousand Maniacs!
(1964), She-Devils on Wheels (1967), and The Wizard of Gore (1970). And make no mistake, these are actual
grindhouse films, not the glossy, retro-fashionable Urban Outfitter tributes
like Planet Terror (2007) and Death Proof(2007), these movies are fast, low-rent, and sometimes painful to watch.

The
Gore Gore Girls (1972) follows Abraham Gentry, a gentleman/dilettante investigator
as he investigates a series of grisly murders at a Chicago go go bar, (go/go,
gore/gore, get it?) along with lady journalist Nancy Weston.With community theater levels of
acting, sets in the filmmaker’s apartments and actual go go bars, and a soundtrack
that ranges from jazzy porno to surfer jams for the strip scenes you would
think the movie would be saved by the abundance of explicit and clever murder
scenes, and you’d be half right.The gore effects and mutilations are below what you’d expect in a LucioFulcimovie, and yet somehow even more
disturbing owing to the cheap film style and anonymous 70’s actors that add an
unpleasant snuff movie aesthetic.However Frank does drive a gorgeous 1966 Corvette, so there’s that.

Watch out for Henny Youngman as the club owner.Originally titled “Blood Orgy” and rated X, The Gore Gore girls would
barely register as PG-13 if released today, but the movie has a decidedly 70’s
misogyny that contemporary audiences may find uncomfortable and even more
disturbing than the discount gore effects.